text:
Development of an additive-controlled, SmI2-mediated stereoselective sequence: Telescoped spirocyclisation, lactone reduction and Peterson elimination
Brice Sautier,
Karl D. Collins and
David J. Procter
Brice Sautier
University of Manchester, School of Chemistry, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Karl D. Collins
This article is part of the Thematic Series "Organic free radical chemistry".
Guest Editor: C. Stephenson
Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1443–1447. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.9.163
Received 20 May 2013, Accepted 28 Jun 2013, Published 18 Jul 2013
Studies on SmI2-mediated spirocyclisation and lactone reduction culminate in a telescoped sequence in which additives are used to "switch on" individual steps mediated by the electron transfer reagent. The sequence involves the use of two activated SmI2 reagent systems and a silicon stereocontrol element that exerts complete diastereocontrol over the cyclisation and is removed during the final stage of the sequence by Peterson elimination. The approach allows functionalised cyclopentanols containing two vicinal quaternary stereocentres to be conveniently prepared from simple starting materials.
Keywords: cyclisation; free radical; Peterson elimination; reduction; samarium; telescoped process
Samarium diiodide (SmI2) has become an essential tool for chemists since its introduction by Kagan [1,2], efficiently mediating a wide range of reductive transformations [3]. The reagent's versatility and the high degree of control usually observed in SmI2-mediated reactions make it the first choice for an array of reductive electron transfer processes [4-13]. Cyclisations are one of the most notable classes of transformation induced by SmI2 and have been widely employed in natural-product syntheses [8-10]. Importantly, fine tuning of the reagent's reduction potential through the use of additives allows complex, polyfunctionalised starting materials to be manipulated selectively [3-16].
Recently, we reported the use of a C–Si bond to control the stereochemical course of SmI2-mediated cyclisations. For example, complete diastereocontrol was achieved in the construction of cyclobutanols [13,17-22] and spirocyclopentanols (Scheme 1) [23-28]. The use of MeOH as an additive with SmI2 was key to the success of these cyclisations [24].
Scheme 1: SmI2-mediated cyclisations directed by a C–Si bond.
In the case of spirocyclopentanol products 2, further manipulation was hampered by their sensitivity to standard reductive conditions, and initially their reduction could only be achieved in two steps via the corresponding lactols [28]. An alternative solution for the manipulation of spirocyclopentanols 2 arose from our recent introduction of SmI2−H2O−amine [29-39] as a mild and efficient reagent system for the electron transfer reduction of carboxylic acid derivatives [40-42]. Pleasingly, SmI2−H2O−amine provided direct access to highly functionalised triols such as 3b from spirocyclopentanol 2b (Scheme 2) [42].
Scheme 2: Reduction of a spirocyclic lactone using SmI2−H2O−Et3N.
In this manuscript, we report studies on SmI2-mediated cyclisation and lactone reduction that culminate in a "telescoped" sequence, i.e., a sequence of steps carried out on a single reaction mixture by the sequential addition of various reagents. In the sequence, additives are used with SmI2 to "switch on" individual steps: spirocyclisation, lactone reduction and Peterson elimination allow rapid access to functionalised cyclopentanols, containing two vicinal quaternary stereocentres, from simple starting materials. The sequence involves the use of two activated SmI2 reagent systems, and a silicon stereocontrol element exerts complete diastereocontrol over the cyclisation and is removed during the final stage of the sequence.
Spirocyclisation
We first set out to examine the scope of the reductive-aldol spirocyclisation [23-27] directed by a C–Si bond, by varying the nature and functionalisation of the side chain. The ratio of 2b/4b was optimized by adjusting the SmI2/MeOH ratio and the reaction time to minimise retro-aldol reaction and the formation of saturated ketolactone byproduct 4b (Table 1). Lowering the amount of SmI2 and MeOH used and shortening the reaction time resulted in improved selectivity for spirolactone 2b. We believe that spirolactones such as 2b undergo retro-aldol fragmentation (to give products such as 4b) upon prolonged exposure to Lewis acidic Sm(II)/(III)-species present in the reaction mixture.
Table 1: Optimisation of SmI2–mediated spirocyclisation conditions.
SmI2a (equiv)
MeOH (equiv)
SmI2/MeOH
2b/4bb
1 2.2 128 1:58 1.8:1
3 3 128 1:43 2.4:1
5 2.2 70 1:32 3.2:1
7 3 96 1:32 3.2:1
8c 2.5 80 1:32 4:1
a0.1 M solution in THF. bFrom 1H NMR of crude product mixture. cReaction time 3–5 min.
Pleasingly, the process proved general, affording the desired spirocycles 2 in good yields and as single diastereoisomers with only small amounts of saturated ketolactone byproducts (cf. 4b) observed. No byproducts arising from reaction of the additional functional groups present were formed (Scheme 3). Of particular note, keto-lactone 1f bearing an ester-containing side chain gave the expected spirocycle 2f, albeit with low conversion (unoptimized). As expected, no products arising from the reduction of the ester were observed [40-42].
Scheme 3: Stereoselective spirocyclisation of functionalised keto-lactone substrates directed by a C–Si bond.
Telescoped spirocyclisation/lactone reduction
Although the reduction of the spirocycles 2 proceeds smoothly with SmI2−H2O−Et3N [40-42], we recognised the advantages of performing both SmI2-mediated steps in a telescoped fashion. The strongly coordinating H2O and amine additives used to activate SmI2 [29-42] in the second lactone reduction step suggested that this far more reducing system would tolerate the presence of samarium(III) salts and a less-activating additive (MeOH) from the first reduction step. Pleasingly, when subjected to the telescoped sequence, substrates 1 gave the desired triols 3 in comparable yields to those obtained from the stepwise process, without any need for further optimisation (Scheme 4).
Scheme 4: Telescoped stereoselective spirocyclisation/lactone reduction.
The process is carried out by transferring the reaction mixture after the first reduction stage (SmI2–MeOH) to a preformed solution of SmI2−H2O−Et3N. The telescoped procedure proved robust and was scaled up to 1.2 g (3.5 mmol) without any drop in yield.
Telescoped spirocyclisation/lactone reduction/Peterson elimination
With an efficient process combining spirocyclisation and lactone reduction in hand, we proposed that manipulation of the triol products by Peterson elimination [43,44] could be added to the telescoped sequence. Crucially, Peterson elimination of triols 3 would result in removal of the silicon stereocontrol element used to control the stereochemical course of C–C bond formation. In early studies, treatment of triol 3b with t-BuOK gave vinyl cyclopentanol 5b in moderate yield [45], but the reaction suffered from poor reproducibility. Following a screen of reaction conditions, moderate but consistent yields were obtained when eliminations were performed in an open vessel, using undried solvents.
When combined with the spirocyclisation and lactone reduction sequence, the Peterson elimination gave diols 5, with good overall yields comparable to those obtained for the stepwise process (Scheme 5).
Scheme 5: Telescoped stereoselective spirocyclisation/lactone reduction/Peterson elimination.
We are currently exploring the use of the telescoped route to cyclopentanols 5 in an asymmetric approach [46] to the antitumor natural product pseudolaric acid B [47].
In summary, we have developed a convenient, telescoped, three-step sequence to access functionalised cyclopentanols bearing two vicinal quaternary stereocentres from simple keto-lactone starting materials. The process involves the use of two activated SmI2 reagent systems and a silicon stereocontrol element that results in complete diastereocontrol and is removed in the final stage of the sequence. The procedure is scalable and the overall yields of the telescoped sequences compare well to the combined yields of the analogous stepwise processes. The use of additives to "switch on" individual steps in a particular sequence mediated by the same electron transfer reagent constitutes an exciting new opportunity for efficient synthesis.
Supporting Information File 1: General experimental procedures and characterisation data.
We thank the EPSRC (project studentship, B.S.), Astrazeneca (CASE award, K.D.C.), and the University of Manchester.
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1. Namy, J. L.; Girard, P.; Kagan, H. B. Nouv. J. Chim. 1977, 1, 5.
2. Girard, P.; Namy, J. L.; Kagan, H. B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1980, 102, 2693. doi:10.1021/ja00528a029
3. Procter, D. J.; Flowers, R. A., II; Skrydstrup, T. Organic Synthesis using Samarium Diiodide: A Practical Guide; RSC Publishing: Cambridge, 2009.
4. Kagan, H. B. Tetrahedron 2003, 59, 10351. doi:10.1016/j.tet.2003.09.101
5. Molander, G. A.; Harris, C. R. Chem. Rev. 1996, 96, 307. doi:10.1021/cr950019y
6. Krief, A.; Laval, A.-M. Chem. Rev. 1999, 99, 745. doi:10.1021/cr980326e
7. Steel, P. G. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 2001, 2727. doi:10.1039/A908189E
8. Edmonds, D. J.; Johnston, D.; Procter, D. J. Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 3371. doi:10.1021/cr030017a
9. Nicolaou, K. C.; Ellery, S. P.; Chen, J. S. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 7140. doi:10.1002/anie.200902151
10. Szostak, M.; Procter, D. J. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 7737. doi:10.1002/anie.201103128
11. Flowers, R. A., II. Synlett 2008, 1427. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1078414
12. Beemelmanns, C.; Reissig, H.-U. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 2199. doi:10.1039/c0cs00116c
13. Harb, H. Y.; Procter, D. J. Synlett 2012, 6. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1290093
14. Dahlén, A.; Hilmersson, G. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 3393. doi:10.1002/ejic.200400442
15. Sautier, B.; Procter, D. J. Chimia 2012, 66, 399. doi:10.2533/chimia.2012.399
16. Szostak, M.; Spain, M.; Parmar, D.; Procter, D. J. Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 330. doi:10.1039/c1cc14252f
40. Szostak, M.; Spain, M.; Procter, D. J. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 10254. doi:10.1039/c1cc14014k
41. Szostak, M.; Spain, M.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 840. doi:10.1021/ol203361k
42. Szostak, M.; Collins, K. D.; Fazakerley, N. J.; Spain, M.; Procter, D. J. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2012, 10, 5820. doi:10.1039/c2ob00017b
29. Cabri, W.; Candiani, I.; Colombo, M.; Franzoi, L.; Bedeschi, A. Tetrahedron Lett. 1995, 36, 949. doi:10.1016/0040-4039(94)02398-U
30. Dahlén, A.; Hilmersson, G. Tetrahedron Lett. 2002, 43, 7197. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(02)01673-8
31. Dahlén, A.; Hilmersson, G. Chem.–Eur. J. 2003, 9, 1123. doi:10.1002/chem.200390129
32. Dahlén, A.; Sundgren, A.; Lahmann, M.; Oscarson, S.; Hilmersson, G. Org. Lett. 2003, 5, 4085. doi:10.1021/ol0354831
33. Dahlén, A.; Hilmersson, G.; Knettle, B. W.; Flowers, R. A., II. J. Org. Chem. 2003, 68, 4870. doi:10.1021/jo034173t
34. Davis, T. A.; Chopade, P. R.; Hilmersson, G.; Flowers, R. A., II. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 119. doi:10.1021/ol047835p
35. Dahlén, A.; Hilmersson, G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 8340. doi:10.1021/ja043323u
36. Dahlén, A.; Nilsson, A.; Hilmersson, G. J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 1576. doi:10.1021/jo052268k
37. Ankner, T.; Hilmersson, G. Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 10856. doi:10.1016/j.tet.2009.10.086
38. Wettergren, J.; Ankner, T.; Hilmersson, G. Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 7596. doi:10.1039/c0cc02009e
39. Ankner, T.; Hilmersson, G. Org. Lett. 2009, 11, 503. doi:10.1021/ol802243d
23. Hutton, T. K.; Muir, K.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 2345. doi:10.1021/ol0260472
24. Hutton, T. K.; Muir, K. W.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2003, 5, 4811. doi:10.1021/ol0358399
25. Sloan, L. A.; Baker, T. M.; Macdonald, S. J. F.; Procter, D. J. Synlett 2007, 3155. doi:10.1055/s-2007-1000821
26. Guazzelli, G.; Duffy, L. A.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 4291. doi:10.1021/ol8017209
27. Baker, T. M.; Sloan, L. A.; Choudhury, L. H.; Murai, M.; Procter, D. J. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 2010, 21, 1246. doi:10.1016/j.tetasy.2010.03.047
28. Harb, H. Y.; Collins, K. D.; Altur, J. V. G.; Bowker, S.; Campbell, L.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 5446. doi:10.1021/ol102278c
47. Chiu, P.; Leung, L. T.; Ko, B. C. B. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2010, 27, 1066. doi:10.1039/b906520m
17. Johnston, D.; McCusker, C. M.; Procter, D. J. Tetrahedron Lett. 1999, 40, 4913. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(99)00910-7
18. Johnston, D.; McCusker, C. F.; Muir, K.; Procter, D. J. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 2000, 681. doi:10.1039/A909549G
19. Johnston, D.; Francon, N.; Edmonds, D. J.; Procter, D. J. Org. Lett. 2001, 3, 2001. doi:10.1021/ol015976a
20. Johnston, D.; Couché, E.; Edmonds, D. J.; Muir, K. W.; Procter, D. J. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2003, 1, 328. doi:10.1039/b209066j
21. Edmonds, D. J.; Muir, K. W.; Procter, D. J. J. Org. Chem. 2003, 68, 3190. doi:10.1021/jo026827o
22. Baker, T. M.; Edmonds, D. J.; Hamilton, D.; O'Brien, C. J.; Procter, D. J. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 5631. doi:10.1002/anie.200801900
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Sautier, B.; Collins, K. D.; Procter, D. J. Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1443–1447. doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.163


To you, who have just been appointed as the first HR manager in a company with an ambition to build up a professional Human Resources function: Congratulations on your new exciting job!
Whether this is your first job as an HR manager or you have several years' experience, being the very first HR manager of an organisation is a special situation to be in. Therefore I sat down with our own HR Director – or, as we say VP People & Culture – Camilla Hydén Karlsson to hear her best tips for your journey.
"The first phase, the must haves is quite self-explanatory," concludes Camilla.
Depending on the starting point, you will probably have to review or set up contract templates for employment, ensure required Health, Environment and Safety (HSE) processes are in place and to build a database for employee data and documents. It's possible you will also need to establish company policies for various areas, such as leave of absence, insurances, benefits and travel.
When prioritising these tasks, it makes sense to find out which laws and regulations apply to your business and map your current situation. This will help you uncover any gaps in compliance and define those areas that come first. "I recommend that you turn to lawyers or an employer organisation in these areas to secure all laws and regulations are followed", Camilla says.
Another important thing to keep in mind is data protection regulations, which apply to employee data. Data protection is about to get a major update in May 2018, and this means that you need to consider carefully what kind of information you handle, who has access to it and so on. Read more about the new regulations, the GDPR, here.
"No matter how active your recruitment is, you definitely need to have a proper on- and offboarding process in place", Camilla says. This should be created with the employee in focus. Do not underestimate the value of proper and detailed on- and offboarding processes. The higher turnover, the higher you should prioritise establishing guidelines for new and leaving employees. An onboarding process can be as simple as a checklist of tasks that will be shared with those involved, such as IT for arranging email and ordering phones and computers, informing payroll about salary, benefits and account number and so on. For employees that leave, you will need a similar checklist with tasks such as closing of email account and returning access card and equipment.
"Think of the administrative as a solid foundation for your HR function. Having this area in place will give you a great start", summarises Camilla.


text:
« Germany starts to worry about the Euro
Divisive politics »
Joining the Euro means taking out a joint bank account with the neighbours
By johnredwood | Published: April 15, 2013
In the 1990s when I was making the case against the UK joining the Euro, I came up with the analogy that joining it would mean taking out a joint bank account with the neighbours.
I explained that I like my neighbours. We meet for drinks or social events. We would help each other out in an emergency. We have never felt ready to have a joint bank account. I would always worry that just when I wanted to spend I would find my neighbours had already used the money I had put in the account. All of us involved would be concerned in case one neighbour ran up a huge overdraft and left the rest of us to pay it off.
The government and other proponents of joining the Euro at the time claimed this analogy was not a fair one. They stumbled to find a soundbite that could put down my thought. They sensed my comment was a poor characterisation, but could not explain how or why.
As we watch the Euro scheme unfolding, it seems ever more apt to say joining a single currency entails taking out a joint bank account with the neighbouring countries. Each country or neighbour that has overspent does indeed expect the rest of the zone to pay its bills for it. We have seen Greece, Portugal and Ireland so far obtain extra money to keep them going. There has also been an even bigger transfer of money through the European central Bank, where the joint bank account is kept. Euro 3 trillion has been rooted into the weakest commercial banks around the zone. The German banking surplus is recycled in this way.
The case of Cyprus illustrates just how crucial the common bank account is to the functioning of the Euro. The unwillingness of the neighbours to send extra money to Cyprus meant people in Cyprus could no longer draw their money out of their banks. In practice they no longer belonged to the Eurozone during their crisis, as they no longer have freely convertible Euros in their bank accounts. In order to get their deposits out of their banks with each Euro having its normal value, the ECB has to restore Cyprus to sharing the joint bank account. If the ECB does not honour the Cyprus accounts in full, they no longer have full value Euros to withdraw.
The political battles in the Eurozone are all about the extent to which the richer neighbours can control the spending habits of the poorer neighbours, and the extent to which the richer neighbours will allow the poorer neighbours to use their money. So far, with a bad grace, the richer neighbours have come up with the money it takes to keep the higher spending neighbours going, except in Cyprus. For their part the poorer neighbours are putting themselves through big tax rises and spending cuts in an effort to curb their appetite for their neighbours cash. Some think this will prove self defeating.
It has produced plenty of ill feeling between the neighbours. It has damaged the Franco-German alliance at the core of the project. Joining the Euro is just like having a joint bank account with the neighbours. Anything short of a full happy marriage makes it very difficult for such financial closeness to work.
All this is clear and obvious so why are Major (Bliar, Brown and now Cameron) all so keen on this predictable ER2 type of disaster for the EURO members?
You say the EUphiles could not explain how or why. The EUphiles never do explain anything they just say it is in our interests but never say why. Then call you a xenophobe (or worse) should you disagree.
Cameron similarly never says why he does not want to be a great Switzerland/Norway nor why he will fight, with his heart and soul, to stay in the anti-democratic EU project. One has to conclude he simply does not have any reasons. He has had plenty of chance, after all, to come up with some – an aversion to yodelling perhaps?
Sorry greater Switzerland not "great" – The BBC line is also a very similar – "the EU is great, in our interests and if you disagree you are a xenophobe, little Englander or racist". It has had this line since the dreadful Ted Heath. Cameron is perhaps too young to remember the disastrous Heath government very well. This is a great shame as he, like Major, is copying him and with similar predictable and disastrous results.
Germany, Switzerland and Norway are in general middle class societies based on high tax and spend with many regulations and complex tax systems with a religious belief in God and the cleanliness of the Earth and the environment. Often in truth absurd and claustrophobic to the outsider. How do you square this of with your right wing fantasy of minimal state interference? A fair question do you think? If you cannot come up with a 'sensible' reply your beliefs are 'think' and BBC nonsense except they are right wing think no state interference religious belief of the free market. No reply? Oh dear..
James Reade
Interesting. Eurosceptics in my experience tell you it's not in our interests and never explain why. I spent a good couple of weeks preparing lectures on the UK in the EU, hoping to find the clinching argument about why the EU is so bad and why the UK would be better off outside it, yet I couldn't come across it.
The reality is that there's a huge amount of grey area in what would happen in place of EU membership, and how that would work out. Into that grey area, beliefs enter. Those with strong ideological stances on either side of the debate take positions that they cannot defend. Those who don't take such extremes don't have such a hard job.
We just have to challenge you to come up with your alternative and why it will make the UK more prosperous. So far, what has been aired hasn't been convincing.
Why would a 70m UK have stronger bargaining power in trade negotiations than a 500m strong EU? Why would EU politicians be any worse than UK ones? Why would EU bureaucrats be any worse than UK ones? Why would EU regulations be any worse than UK ones?
James its obvious. UK politicians are electable the EU is gradually becoming unelected. That is your answer.
No, that doesn't answer the question.
China is growing very strongly at the moment and doesn't have elected rulers.
I care about the economic impact, and I'm still yet to hear anything convincing.
@James
The UK 'ones' are just that, UK ! We can hold them to account. We can make them obey us (democracy) or change them. In a EU system, we would be small fry in a big pond.
Also, we would have a seat at major conferences, international committees etc. Currently, should we have a dispute with say Norway or Iceland over fish we would be able to deal with ourselves to ourselves. At the moment because of the Common Fisheries Policy this is handled by the EU – We effectively have no say.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/9813101/Norways-fax-democracy-is-nothing-for-Britain-to-fear.html
Further, regarding our energy. We currently have to get 'permission' from the Commission if we wish to build power stations and they have the power to shut them down, risking energy black-outs.
http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/brussels-clears-hinkley-point-c-for-take-off
And somehow it would be in the interests of the EU to impose blackouts on the UK? I'm not convinced.
I think you massively overplay the UK's influence. As said, numbers and money matter, and 70m consumers vs 500m is big currency in trade negotiations.
"I spent a good couple of weeks preparing lectures on the UK in the EU, hoping to find the clinching argument about why the EU is so bad and why the UK would be better off outside it, yet I couldn't come across it."
It must be easy to explain how their failures to join the EU has left both Norway and Switzerland impoverished, with high and increasing levels of unemployment as well as continuous needs for bailouts. In particular, it must be much harder for Norway to regulate its husbandry and external trade in fish products than for the EU in dealing with its own fishing grounds on the Dogger Bank. The reason why Iceland was not able to take hard but rational decisions when confronted by a severe banking crisis, unlike the EU, was of course that it is a very small country with correspondingly limited intellectual resources, quite unlike the EU with its powerhouse of intellectual muscle in Brussels.
You see, the level of development currently in countries outside the EU isn't a factor in whether the UK should leave or not – we can't suddenly become a different country.
I do like the sarcasm at the end – but the bigger point is, of course, why should we believe that our bureaucrats, our politicians, are any less incompetent than those in Brussels?
Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong,Canada, USA, Australia are surely evidence enough, relative to the general and declining EU disaster area.
lifelogic – not really, since their membership or otherwise of the EU isn't necessarily the biggest factor in their economic success or otherwise.
EU membership isn't just a switch we can flick on or off if we feel like it, just as enjoying the kind of economic success of another country isn't something we can just grab by leaving the EU.
It just isn't that simple. Cherry picking examples of countries where multiple explanatory factors can be found for their development or lack of it is thoroughly unconvincing.
Posted April 16, 2013 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
James, you ask "Why would a 70m UK have stronger bargaining power in trade negotiations than a 500m strong EU?".
If the 430m don't represent the same position as the UK then by being represented by the EU instead of representing itself the UK has not got what it wants from the trade negotiation before it's even turned up for it.
Do you think the EU's objectives in negotiating are sufficiently different then that our 70m suffer? I mean, if you're negotiating on behalf of 500m people, you're going to take into account what a proportion as large as 70m is into account. Do you have evidence that this doesn't happen?
I suspect you will get answers to your deserved question when we learn who is pulling Cameron's strings. I subscribe to a coalition of vested interests in the financial world that operates divorced from any democratic institution, and there are precious few of those. While there is a logic to a loose club of European countries trading and cooperating with each other, there is no logic in a financial or political union. The economies and cultures are too disparate for it to work. Those who press for it are political fantasists or those with vested interests. Perhaps we should look at whose money and under what guarantees of interest it is being used to prop up this political fantasy. When it comes to support for instance for the British victims of theft in Cyprus what do we hear from Cameron?
I have heard nothing, and yet he has the means to stop it dead with a deduction from the vast sums we pay daily into the coffers of the European dream. Dear departed Margaret Thatcher would have known how to deal with it and almost certainly would have done.
So why should John Bull with his (badly overdrawn) independent bank account be called upon also to prop up any part of the neighbours' joint account? Why are those neighbours also allowed to dip into the contingency rescue fund (IMF), when their overall bank balance is still in the black? The joint account seems only to be joint when it suits the account-holder.
I rather like your comparison, as its simple to explain and understand.
Rather like government spending being related to a household budget (now who said that )
Indeed even in a good marriage some people still prefer to have their own accounts, as well as running a combined account for household expenditure.
A "One size fits all" (type of policy), often fails to fit anyone properly (unless they are all the same size, and the policy is designed to fit that size), but add in the additional trust needed for money management, and you can easily get an absolute disaster.
I see from press reports that Mr Cameron has lost his (Gay Marriage) advisor.
Has this policy now runs its course ?
At hte time of his appointment, Tim Montgomerie 'tweeted':
"Andrew Cooper once described the Tory grassroots as "vile" to me. And now he's head of strategy for David Cameron."
Is it quite as simple as the "joint bank account" analogy? apparently there are some conditions for taking part, or one ends up like Greece, Cyprus etc. Should they ever have been allowed in? It shows the political trade-off in these matters, it isn't pure economics, just like the euro was a political trade off involving the re-unification of Germany. Political considerations will also dictate that the UK, currently the bad neighbor with "no friends, only interests" will not leave the EU.
What you mean is that it was a manoeuvre to lead to political union, which has always been the aim of what is now called the EU. However, your political considerations never seem to allow the people of the countries involved to have their say about whether they want their government to be taken over by others whom they will never be allowed to remove from office via the ballot box. Denying such basic democratic freedom leaves rather unpleasant alternatives for people and is more likely to cause conflict rather than the peace we are told was the raison d'être for this coup d'état.
As long as Europeans vote for pro-EU parties and elect pro-EU MEPs there's clear evidence that their political considerations are being considered.
@Brian Tomkinson: For most of us in the Netherlands, the EU is something in which we take part, it is not some kind of "foreign" power, we are the EU, just as much as the French are the EU and the Spanish or Polish are the EU.
We don't apply "direct democracy" but "representative paliamentary democracy" in which we have influence regularly (more often than the Britons). There has always been broad support for the EU in the Netherlands, check the statistics if you like.
It was never about Economics, the Euro was a pure political project, that's the problem.
The reunification of Germany took place in 1990 and the Euro came into being nine years later.
While there is ample evidence that the two events were interlinked, specifically by the French insisting on the currency in exchange for agreement to reunification.
However, if the Germans had really wanted to scupper the single currency they had plenty of time to do so. The reason they didn't was a combination of continued contrition over WW2 and their judgement that the currency would be good for German industry. In this they were overwhelmingly correct it's just that it's been a disaster for almost everyone else !
@Chris S: The EMU was being negotiated in 1990 and became part of the Maastricht Treaty. I don't think that the Germans view the euro as a disaster, that is the prerogative of the global bastion of anti-euro propaganda, located in the UK.
Posted April 15, 2013 at 10:15 am | Permalink
Of course they shouldn't have been allowed in, and in fact the Dutch government expressly objected to Italy being allowed into the first wave; it could have vetoed that, and said that it was not prepared to proceed until it was quite sure that all the participating countries would be fit to share a currency; but lacking the courage and patriotism to do that it instead allowed itself to be over-ruled by Kohl for his political purposes; so if the Dutch people now have to pay the price for that terrible mistake made by their elected politicians, so be it; just as with the German people you should accept your own responsibility as much as you expect the peoples of the distressed eurozone states to accept responsibility for the terrible mistakes made by their elected politicians and to pay the price whatever it may be, even if it means destitution; but don't expect us to pay for your poor electoral choices.
@Denis Cooper: Whether it was a mistake to let certain countries in was "a terrible mistake" is far from sure if you consider all aspects, also the political ones. Instead of a new colonel's regime in Greece, it is part of the EU and the EZ and there is some real leverage on it to make things better. Same for Italy, which was opposed by our minister of finance, who has never lacked courage, but as any Dutch, would be willing to listen to broader arguments. Patriotism is a weird word in this context as there is national but also European patriotism on the continent. For now, Britain is still profiting from all these efforts while not paying for it. In the end, not making any friends may still prove costly for Britain, time will tell.
Peter, if even at this point you can't bring yourself to acknowledge that it was a terrible mistake then there's little hope for you.
But we don't seem to be profiting do we.
By the way I'd be interested in knowing at what convenient point in time you draw the line in terms of when the UK hasn't been materialy supporting Europe?
@David Price: From the moment that the UK withdrew from any participation in any euro bail-out, at a time that Sweden and Denmark were still supportive. It was early in the Cameron government.
Yet you demand that as a Eurozone taxpayer you must not contribute to bailing out your fellow Eurozone citizens in Cyprus. How do you reconcile such a view with your other demands that UK citizens and taxpayers, who are net contributors to the EU anyway, must additionally bail out the Eurozone of which we are not a member?
Peter–Please put a sock in it about friendship, which in this context is emotional claptrap. You will never explain why it is not obvious that the way to go is for the UK to leave the EU, then for the Continent, unencumbered by the UK, to amalgamate quickly in to effectively a single new country (which the UK doesn't want to be part of and never did) and then for the UK (with maybe, but not necessarily, one or two like-minded others) and that single new country (via Brussels) to form something like the relationship that Canada (and Mexico) has with America, ie NAFTA. And while we are at it, try and take on board the simple fact that although there might (repeat might) be some (small if any) advantages to the UK being in the EU, any such are by no means net advantages because of the enormous amounts of cash we have to pay in for the "privilege" of being where most of the UK do not want to be anyway. The UK could use that cash in many other ways.
@Leslie Singleton: I don't object against the arrangement you're suggesting here. The objections are more likely to come from others in the UK. You do realize that Mexico hasn't got the kind of influence on USA matters that the UK might want to continue to have on EU matters?
Peter–I am glad to hear that you do not object, because it is a Win-Win situation and as I say the glaringly obvious way to go. I most certainly would not expect any shall we say undue influence over what the new and amalgamated country on the Continent does or does not do apart from of course the usual diplomacy and comity of nations–why on earth should I?
It seems that some neighbours are more equal than others. When one next door neighbour lends money to another, with approval or as required by the neighbourhood financial committee, the borrower is allowed to default and the lender is sent for a 'haircut'. Then when the lenders other banks get nervous, the rug is pulled.
Peter, what do you think of your young finance committee chief's new "template" to take the money from honest businesses, savers and people in the process of selling property, while still backing the bigger neighbours?
@stred:
Dijsselbloem never used "template" (didn't know the word, but should of course have asked what the FT interviewer meant, beginner's error). I like him, and the changing environment in which I, the tax-payer, don't automatically had to pay for Russian (and British?) money launderers in Cyprus (a special case, where savers got several times as much interest on their deposits as in the Netherlands, very strange as it uses the same currency).
Deposits above €100,000 are never guaranteed and I see it as a good change that shareholders, bondholders, depositholders above €100,000 pay before I do. They take the calculated risk. Of course I'm also sorry for this couple in the process of selling property, if they were British, no doubt the UK government will rescue them as an exceptional case? Interestingly it now appears that "the Cypriots" are much more than 1.5 x as wealthy as the Dutch (themselves not the poorest Europeans).
Just wait, they will come for your money too. As Mrs Thatcher said " Eventually, Socialists run out of other people's money to spend".
@Brian Tomkinson: These aren't socialist policies. In fact I have heard conservative politicians suggest these matters and avoid making the tax-payer bleed.
And of course neither the German government nor your own Dutch government had the faintest idea that all this money-laundering was going on in Cyprus when they agreed to it joining the euro. That's only just been discovered as the Germans as a suitable propaganda pretext, which you are content to repeat.
@Denis Cooper: Of course the money laundering somewhat increased after Cyprus joined this enviable global currency. 🙂 Its banking sector more than doubled within a few years.
Peter. Thanks for this insight into the northern EU mind. The account holders are money launderers, taking advantage of the high interest rates? The rates were barely above inflation, or in other words did not create stealth theft like other EU and UK banks. The big boys, who may have been launderers or thieves got large amounts out before the official announcement.
I heard him use the word template. What if they do the same to the other PIIGs? Should all their legitimate businesses and people transfering payments have their cash stolen.
The reason that the Cypriots are wealthier on paper is that many own their own home and the EU banks financed a property boom. Germans prefer to rent. These values have now crashed, thanks to the EU, as they did in Ireland. You ballsed it up. You are happy to be in the club. Pay up.
(etc ed).
@stred: 5% is way above the euro rate of inflation, and when and where did you hear Dijsselbloem use the word template? I believe to have watched all interviews and have read the fateful transcript as well, so I'm a little puzzled here. The policy of moving from tax payers to shareholders etc. is currently being developed in the EU, so no surprise there.
I think I heard him say template in a Channel 4 news interview after the Irish meeting. Anyway, are they planning to do the same to accounts holder in PIIGS banks? If not, for the sake of sanity, please say so, otherwise there will be a banking crisis. No argument about shareholders. Stealing honest peoples livelihoods is disgusting. Do these untaxed Eurocrats even care?
@PvL
See reuters article – http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/29/us-eurozone-cyprus-ecb-knot-idUSBRE92S05P20130329
"template", "model" or "recipe", it doesn't matter which word was used the intent has been made very clear.
@David Price: Indeed. the German Bundesbank president (also on the ECB board) on Cyprus in WSJ: "Though the specific deal isn't a blueprint for others, it shows the importance of having a "pecking order". That the tax-payers are the last ones the pay is a good principle.
The German Bundesbank president and messrs Dijsselbloem and Knot don't appear to agree while the financial market also seems to have problems believing words in the face of actions.
Also, your position that the taxpayer should be the last to pay is at odds with your demand that the UK taxpayers bail out the Eurozone, despite not being a part of it.
(site ref left out)Ask yourself how your democracy, of which you like to boast, could be so fundamentally defective that it produced successive governments which readily agreed that your country would share a currency with this other country (Cyprus-ed); while our democracy, admittedly flawed, stopped our politicians following yours down that primrose path to eurozone hell.
I suppose that the ordinary Dutch electors could plead ignorance, as could the ordinary Cypriot electors; but that could hardly be the case for the politicians who they had elected to mislead them, and nor I would suggest would it be your case; it is simply not credible that you had no idea of how badly Cyprus was being run and could not foresee the likely consequences; so stop complaining, and pay up for the terrible mistakes made by the politicians you freely elected.
@Denis Cooper: I must give it to you that you often bring a smile to my face Denis. For someone living in the "eurozone hell" I had expected it to be a bit warmer! 🙂 I like to look at the very large picture, in which all will sort itself out both politically and economically in a Europe which is "coming together" in the 21st century. Whether Britain will be part of that Europe is irrelevant (personally, I've long given up living in Britain, as we don't want to experience new sterling devaluations, and besides, France still has better food, health-care and weather, if we got bored of the Netherlands). As you realize, now that the eurocrisis is in calmer waters, the burden of bailing-out is shifting away from tax-payers to shareholders, bondholders and larger deposit holders. I'm actually not complaining. I'm only complaining about the free riders and cherry pickers in the neighborhood.
Well, Peter, instead of exhibiting this smug complacency why don't you show some "solidarity" with your fellow Europeans by giving up your comfortable life in the Netherlands and going to live in one of the distressed eurozone states?
@Denis Cooper: Currently, the Nethlerlands itself is a distressed EZ country. We have a deficit above 3% and a fasst rising level of unemployment. The Dutch economy needs my consumption, as well as you buying more Dutch export products, for which I offer you my gratitude in advance. Giving your wife a bunch of flowers every week would be a good start 🙂
Peter–Absolutely love the way you blithely ignore the unadulterated horror and undiluted misery that has been visited on the peoples of large parts of, especially, the EZ by the fanciful artificial construct that is the EU. It is obvious that the Euro does not, cannot and will not work unless the relative countries jump PDQ to completely pooled sovereignty, not just the hogwash about banking unions, and that simply is not going to happen which I suspect you agree with. There are huge differences in idealogy, history, culture, law, religion, language and just about anything else one cares to name and long may that continue. The only thing the EU thinks, repeat thinks, it has got going for it is geography but that is very far indeed from being enough, indeed as a glance round the world will indicate geography can easily work the other way. That is what borders are for. It is a disgrace that so much decision-making power is in the hands of people earning huge salaries in Brussels (I went there once–a most unimpressive place) who of course will never look at the question objectively because what of any use would they be to anybody if or when it all falls apart?
Postscript–Re-reading, should have been ideology of course–Apologies.
P O Pensioner
So Peter, the UK which is a net contibutor to the EU budget of some £10billion is a bad neighour? I'm sure that Germany will do whatever has to be done to keep the UK in the EU so that they don't have to also pick up the contribution the "bad neighbour" UK is currently making! The £10 billion does not include the UK money in the IMF that is being channelled to support the Eurozone experiment. It will all end in tears when the German voters realise the price they are having to pay to support the Euro spendthrifts.
Given all the reforms that the countries requiring bailouts have to comply with in exchange for these bailouts I doubt that the German voters will ever feel they are paying too much.
@P O Pensioner: As far as I know, the UK net contribution (net!) is less than you mention. This contribution also helps develop markets to which the UK can then export. It pales in comparison to what EZ countries do in bail-outs. In addition the UK (the conservative part of it) has made itself the global bastion of anti-euro propaganda (in the global linga franca as it happens) and I see no reason why that should be forgotten when the continent will get its EZ act together. Neither should it forget that the UK 1986 "bigbang" (financial free for all) did come full circle in the 2008 big-bust and that UK policies carry a special co-responsibility for the fiancial crisis since.
I see that if Scotland were to vote to become an independent nation as Alex Salmond hopes, the Nationalists still want to share our bank account with the Bank of England so we can bail them out if/when they get into difficulties!
I think your analogy passes the "soundbite test", but is that really as substantial as we should be in political dialogue? Surely if your analogy is wrong but can't be argued against with a soundbite, that doesn't mean you should still be peddling it?
I think the most important point about your analogy is it is incredibly narrow. Yes, some countries have been forced to support others, but they've also been able to trade without exchange rate risk and costs for a decade – the kind of benefit completely absent from your analogy which focusses only on the downside risk.
You go on to talk about how unwilling some countries are to fund the deficits of others. Is that really any different to the unwillingness of rich councils being unwilling to share their surpluses with poorer councils in the UK – a proposal of Eric Pickles not too long ago? Is it really too different to the animosity that now exists in this country against anyone who claims any sort of benefits, regardless of how justified they may be? I'm not so sure.
Reply You make my point by reinforcing the analogy. The national government does send large extra sums in grants and loans to the financially stretched Councils in parts of the UK.
I think that the massive ECB Target2 imbalances are the real effective exchange rate risk within the Eurozone. In effect, as those default de facto if not de jure the depreciated rate of exchange will be made apparent.
I wonder whether the theory that business risk (and therefore the cost of capital) has been reduced by the Euro will turn out to be an illusion. Although exchange rate risk disappears in a currency union, it is apparent that sovereign risk markedly increases. The German business trading in Greece might not have FX to worry about, but has new uncertainties in all manner of counter-party risk due to the sovereign insolvency which the euro has caused (or at least enabled). Would any German business contemplating investment in Greece really now think the euro has reduced the cost of capital?(!)
Good point – though the sovereign risk is only something quite recent, at least judged by the interest rates various of the PIGS have been paying relative to Germany.
Furthermore, with less incompetent management of the eurozone and willingness of those that have benefitted (notably Germany) to cough up to support the system that's given them those benefits, there might not have been the resulting spikes in these interest rates.
Also, German firms are still able to profit from their exports into the PIGS, even if fewer of them might be being bought. And of course those in the stronger economies still benefit from exporting with a cheap currency – which wouldn't be happening if they had their own currency.
Yes but my point is there's less and less political will to do that – you're missing my point, yet again.
Your analogy is exactly right and this is why in the longer run the Euro will fail.
Even though the EU has a lamentable history of ignoring the views of it's member's citizens, it will only be able to keep the lid on the problem for so long.
Sooner or later there will be rioting in the streets by the 50-60% of young people who are unemplyed in Spain and Greece and the German taxpayer and those of Finland Austria the Netherlands will revolt in a more civilised way against the policy of fiscal transfers to the Clubmed countries.
Van Rumpuy and Barroso have no answers for these problems.
The first signs of an end to the cozy consensus amongst German politicians are emerging :
The CDU and FDP are against further bailouts using German taxpayers money and the even the SDP made it clear they would not support a large contribution of German Taxpayer's money that would end up in the pockets of Russian investors in Cyprus.
Then there is the formation of the anti-Euro Alternative party. Although it's predicted to fall short of the 5% threshold needed to get seats in the Bundestag, there has to be a strong possibility that the electorate will give the politicians a severe jolt just as in Italy.
These are healthy signs and Frau Merkel will ignore them at her peril. In fact, the settlement imposed on Cyprus is a clear sign that she is already shifting policy away from slavish support for the single currency.
It can surely only be a matter of time before the neighbours are revolting !
Peter Stroud
There is only one Gordon Brown policy for which I give thanks. Keeping us out of the Euro. Whether this was down to good economics, or because Blair was keen on our entry, I know not. But he did us a favour.
When we got married my wife had to give up her job in another part of the country, and as all our income was then going into my bank account we agreed on the simple move of converting that into our joint account, while she could retain her own account and could spend whatever money she had in it as she pleased.
One of my more traditionalist friends had a different approach. He had the bank account, he wrote all the cheques, and he gave his wife weekly housekeeping money in cash; until the day came when he had a cheque for privatisation proceeds made out in her name, and to his chagrin he was finally forced to allow her to have her own bank account.
Nowadays it would be more common for a couple to keep their own accounts but set up a new joint account for the shared expenses, and perhaps that would be the analogy for a parallel EU currency as proposed by Margaret Thatcher.
Here is what she said about it in the Commons on October 30th 1990, as part of the same statement which led on to her famous "No. No. No.":
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198990/cmhansrd/1990-10-30/Debate-1.html
"The hard ecu would be a parallel currency, not a single currency. If, as time went by, people and Governments chose to use it widely, it could evolve towards a single currency. But our national currency would remain unless a decision to abolish it were freely taken by future generations of Parliament and people. A single currency is not the policy of this Government."
Well, of course that suggestion was given short shrift by the eurofederalists, who quickly made it clear that even if they sometimes found it expedient to represent the proposed currency as being a "common" currency they very definitely wanted it to be the "single" currency for all EC/EU member states, issued by a eurofederal central bank as the only legal tender across the EC/EU.
And that is what Major agreed to through the Maastricht Treaty, in what is now Article 128 TFEU:
"The European Central Bank shall have the exclusive right to authorise the issue of euro banknotes within the Union. The European Central Bank and the national central banks may issue such notes. The banknotes issued by the European Central Bank and the national central banks shall be the only such notes to have the status of legal tender within the Union."
Quite unnecessarily: he had a veto, and he could have refused to agree to the EU issuing its own currency at all, let alone as the EU's single currency displacing all the national currencies.
This is probably very much over-simplified, but the way I see the Euro is that Germany joined at a very favourable exchange rate (perhaps because of its own recent incorporation of East German currency into the D-mark). In order to sell its desirable products it then took advantage of the sudden loss of restraint by bankers and Central banks and the apparently endless supply of cheap credit to sell these products to Southern European countries. Eventually and inevitably, lenders began to worry about their loans and the borrowers couldn't pay. Now Germany sees no point in throwing good money after bad, but it doesn't look to me as though that strategy is going to get the 'bad' money back. However, the first thing to do when you're in financial difficulty is to stop losing money. A lot of Germans seem to have woken up to this idea.
my very thoughts
I have a joint bank account with my wife . She is prudent , selective and a good manager of our household . She has never written a cheque without informing first . There are many attractions in this relationship including the advantage of splitting the tax implications , thus benefiting the bottom line . Were the UK in an equally beneficial financial and social relationship with the EU , and if the democracy prevailed as it does in my marriage , I would be enthusiastic with a " joint account ". Clearly we are not consulted and have no control over EU expenditure , and , there is no ultimate bottom line advantage . The conclusion is keep an independent account .
Given that when Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Cyprus needed a bailout they couldn't just withdraw all the money they needed but had to negotiate for it, it seems that the joint bank account analogy isn't accurate. I'd say this relationship is more akin to being a guarantor, with strict terms regarding when such a guarantee will be honoured (such as making reforms).
As with any 'relationship', when you put it on a formal setting ie marriage/union, you make a serious legal and, hopefully binding commitment to each other. As they say, "for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health." Germany and others have made a commitment to share a currency, but not the rest. This was the only way the Germans' were going to buy-into the Euro and be trapped into ever closer 'Union'. Something the French desperately want.
The only way the Euro and even the EU can survive is by going for full political and financial union. That's one big step everybody's going to have to take. The sooner we face up to this threat and start dealing with it, the better. Because if you think that what has happened across the EU can only happen in the EU, think again. What we have been witnessing will soon visit these shores.
Today has seen an extraordinary speech from Draghi at the ECB. He admits that there can't be a single interest rate that suits all the countries of the Eurozone.
Unlike economies with a single fiscal authority or with a fully-fledged federal structure, the euro area comprises multiple sovereign states. The debt of each of these states has different liquidity and risk characteristics. In such a set-up there is no uncontroversial way to define the term structure of the risk-free rate. As a matter of fact, this means that there is no univocal measure of the term premium for the euro area as a whole.
At the same time, during the crisis, normal heterogeneity has turned into detrimental fragmentation: a landscape with natural diverse scenery has turned into a dangerous surface with jagged cliffs and stumbling blocks. Liquidity risk, which was a widespread concern for banks throughout the euro area at the start of the crisis, has become more concentrated as the crisis has progressed. Fault lines between banking sectors with structural funding surpluses and banking sectors still suffering from a precarious access to credit run across national borders.
The banking sector and the financial market of the euro area has become fragmented.
http://www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2013/html/sp130415.en.html
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
WB Yeats
"the euro area comprises multiple sovereign states."
But some are more sovereign than others, or to be precise technically all are equally sovereign but some have been rendered largely incapable of exercising their sovereignty without consequences which would be even more dire than the dire consequences of their present subjugation to German power.
Brian Potter
I find your analogy somewhat difficult. Is this not exactly what happens within the U.K., the richer regions subsidising the poorer ones?
Reply Of course. The Uk usually stands behind national and local government spending and borrowing around the country. On a rare occasion when the government refused to stand behind a Council's borrowing there was a big row and much surprise.
" If the ECB does not honour the Cyprus accounts in full, they no longer have full value Euros to withdraw."
I just do not understand this at all. The Euro is, surely, the Euro? It cannot have different values in different countries? Isn't that the whole problem?
James Matthews
Fifty-five comments in all (so far) of which thirteen provided by a foreigner resident outside the UK. Is there nothing else to do in the Netherlands?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is a picture book, but don't let that keep you from discovering its abundant gifts. The true story of New York City's first (failed) attempt at a subway system is a fascinating slice of history that contains vision, ingenuity, perseverance, suspense, and political intrigue. And oh, those illustrations! Breathtaking, detailed dioramas, photographed with stunning lighting. The inside of the dust jacket explains and illustrates the process. This book is not to be missed – by anyone, of any age!


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Uwharrie National Forest (locally /juːˈwɑːri/ yoo-WAH-ree) is a federally designated national forest region located primarily in Montgomery County, but also extending into Randolph and Davidson counties in south central North Carolina. It is the smallest of the four National Forests in North Carolina, with a total area of 50,645 acres (204.95 km2). About 79% of its acreage is in Montgomery County. The forest is managed together with the other three North Carolina National Forests (Croatan, Nantahala, and Pisgah) from common headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina. However, it does have a local ranger district office in Troy, North Carolina. There is one officially designated wilderness area within the forest—the 5,025-acre (20.34 km²) Birkhead Mountains Wilderness.
The forest derives its name from the Uwharrie Mountains, the ancient mountains atop which most of the forest sits. The western border of the forest is made by the Yadkin River and Great Pee Dee River while the northern border follows the northernmost range of the Uwharries near Asheboro. To the east, the forest is bordered by the Montgomery County seat of Troy.
The Forest lies within the Southeastern mixed forests ecoregion and supports mixed forests of pine and oak.
Land was first purchased by the Federal government in 1931, and the area was known as the Uwharrie Reservation. The Uwharrie Forest was given federal designation in the early 1960s by President John F. Kennedy, along with the Nantahala, Pisgah, and Croatan National Forests.
The forest is bisected by several state and interstate highways. Both Interstate 73 and Interstate 74 run along the eastern boundary of the forest on the Moore County line from north to south. NC 73 runs from west to east from the Yadkin River to Mount Gilead. U.S. Highway 220 runs parallel to I-73/74. NC 109 runs from north to south from the Davidson County line to its end in Troy. NC 24/27 both run from the Yadkin River in the west to Moore County in the east.
The forest is one of the key locations used in the US Army Special Warfare School's ROBIN SAGE exercise for the training of Special Forces students.
The first substantial gold strike in the United States was discovered near this area in 1799, and gold was found in the Uwharrie Mountains in the 19th century. A mini gold rush occurred during the Great Depression. Panning for gold in the forest's streams and rivers remains a popular activity. Boating and fishing are available at Badin Lake, while the 20-mile (32.19 km) Uwharrie National Recreation Trail runs through the forest. Other trails and paths provide opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, camping, and horseback riding. Off-road vehicles have their own trail system, which is open seasonally.
Uwharrie National Forest has received attention as of late for unconfirmed sightings of Mountain Lions within forest boundaries.
^ "Land Areas of the National Forest System" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service. January 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
^ "The National Forests of the United States" (PDF). ForestHistory.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
^ Talk Like A Tarheel, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
^ Frago, Charles (2015-01-25). "Have Mountain Lions Returned?". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
This page was last edited on 9 January 2019, at 23:00 (UTC).


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Home > Blog > Irish Culture > Wolfe Tone – The Man, Not the Band
Wolfe Tone – The Man, Not the Band
Learn the basics about a man who had a profound influence on the course of Irish history
By Irene Hislop, June 18, 2014
Many readers are probably fans of the band the Wolfe Tones, but what do you know about the man the band is named for? Friday is the anniversary of his birth, so it's a good time to learn the basics about a man who had a profound influence on the course of Irish history. For starters, his first name was not Wolfe.
Theobald Wolfe Tone was born on June 20th, 1763 in Dublin. His father was a Protestant with French roots. His mother converted from Catholicism when they wed. Their son was named in honor of his godfather, Theobald Wolfe. Wolfe Tone studied law at Trinity College and became a barrister at the age of 26. He moved to London and practiced law there. He also managed to elope. It's tough to plan a wedding and establish a professional reputation in London at the same time.
Wolfe Tone was one of the founders of the Society of United Irishmen in 1791. The group's initial goals were to promote religious desegregation and tolerance and to press for parliamentary reform. Things quickly snowballed. Being at war with France, British authorities were not impressed with the United Irishmen's open support of the French revolutionaries. By 1794, they discovered that the United Irishmen had been in contact with the French, and cracked down on the society. The group became secret, but the British managed to infiltrate it and imprison many leaders. Wolfe Tone was able to emigrate to the United States in 1795.
History has shown that tactic has never discouraged the Irish for long.
Wolfe Tone arrived in France in 1796 and resumed his campaign to garner French support for an Irish revolution. Things did not go as hoped. The leaders of the United Irishmen realized they could not count on the support they wanted from France. They would have to go it alone.
In March of 1798, the British arrested key members of the society's leadership, but the group continued to plan an uprising for May. Despite more arrests just days ahead of the planned uprising, they decided to go ahead. But poor communication meant a disorganized attempt, with some areas waiting for orders that never arrived.
Despite the last-minute appearance of French troops, the rebels were severely outnumbered and outgunned. Men and women armed with only farming implements were faced with well-supplied British troops. Only in Wexford did the rebels meet any real victory; they lasted more than a month but were unable to extend their success beyond Wexford and eventually surrendered.
Theobald Wolfe Tone had arrived with French troops in Donegal but was captured. Knowing he faced execution, he resisted the only way he could and took his own life in November 1798, aged only 35. Had he somehow escaped, Irish history would no doubt have been very different?
Posted in Irish CultureTagged Celtic history, Irish history


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Gambar halaman
The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value ..., Volume 21
diedit oleh Abraham Clark Freeman
Lechmere v. Fletcher, 1 Cromp. & M. 623; Fairchild v. Holly, 10 Conn. 474; Davis V. Anable, 2 Hill, 339; Burnheimer v. Hart, 27 Iowa, 19; 99 Am. Dec. 641. See Greenfield v. Wilson, 13 Gray, 384; Moore v. Loring, 106 Mass. 455; Miller's River National Bank v. Jefferson, 138 Mass. 111; Stillwell v. Bertrand, 22 Ark. 379; Corn Exchange Ins. Co. v. Babcock (No. 2), 8 Abb. Pr., N. 8., 256; United States v. Cushman, 2 Sum. 426, 440.
The principlo of the cases last cited is decisive of the one at bar. No distinction favorable to the defendant can be taken between an agreement made as itself collateral security, and an agreement to furnish collateral security. If there were any difference, it would be in favor of the plaintiffs; for the collateral contracts recovered on in the cases cited were simply other contracts of the defendant to pay money, whereas the contract of this defendant was a contract to get a third person to indorse, as we have stated. It is true that in most of the cases there were other parties defendant in the first or second suit. But that circumstance had nothing to do with the ground of the decisions, as indeed it could not have had by any technical rule. The ground was that stated by Lord Ellenborough in Drake v. Mitchell, 3 East, 251, and approved by this court in Lord v. Bigelow, 124 Mass. 185, 189: "A judge ment recovered in any form of action is still but a security for the original cause of action, until it be made productive in satisfaction to the party; and therefore till then it cannot operate to change any other collateral concurrent remedy which the party may have." Parsons, C. J., states the law in the same way: "A judgment in a suit, where the action is given as a remedy merely cumulative, is no bar, unless such judgment has been satisfied; for although there may be two remedies, there can be but one satisfaction": Storer v. Storer, 6 Mass. 390, 393.
The technical effect of the judgment as a bar would be the same, whether the defendant in both suits were the same, or other defendants were joined in any one of them. The rule as stated by the courts in all the cases applies with equal force, whichever may be the fact. If we were to depart from that rule, and to say that a man should have but one judgment, although he had different causes of action, when we thought be could get from a single judgment all the satisfaction he was likely to get, we should be legislåting, instead of follow
ing the precedents, and legislating in very doubtful accord with the contracts of the parties.
Exceptions sustained.
JUDOMENTS — MERGER – As to when a cause of action is merged in a judgment, and when not, see note to Speed v. Hann, 15 Am. Dec. 81-83.
FREEMAN'S NATIONAL BANK V. NATIONAL TUBE
WORKS COMPANY.
[151 MASSACHUSETTS, 413.) INDORSEMENT OF DRAFT FOR THE PURPOSE OF COLLECTION ON A0000NT
OF ITS OWNER passes the legal title so far only as to enable the indorsoo to demand, receive, and sue for the money to be paid. The owner may still control the paper, unless paid, and may intercept the proceeds of it
in the hands of the intermediate agente LIDORSEMENT OF A DRAFT BY BANK A TO BE PAID TO BANK B FOR AO
COUNT OF Bank A, and its indorsement by bank B that it is to be paid to bank F for account of bank B, do not imply that the draft is the property of bank B, but merely that it is to be paid to bank B as agent of bank A. An unbroken succession of such indorsements would indi. cate that each indorser was acting by direction of the next preceding indorser, who was himself the agent of the original owner, for whom the collection was to be made; and when it is made to the last indorsee, he bas no right to apply it as having been the property of the last indorser, and if it remains uncollected to advance him moneys on account of it, and to enforce its collection as against the equitable owner to reimburse himself for such advances
ACTION of contract upon one draft for twenty thousand dollars, the other for nine thousand nine hundred dollars, and for Beven thousand dollars alleged to be paid for defendant's use. The first and second drafts were identical, except as to the amounts thereof, and the first draft and the indorsements thereon were as follows: "20,000.
McKEESPORT, PA., May 17, 1884. "At sight, for value received, pay to the order of A. Chau. don twenty thousand dollars, and charge this office as per margin.
"NATIONAL TUBE WORKS Co.,
By E. C. CONVERSE, Asst. Mgr., for President. "To Wu. 8. EATON, Treas., 8 Pemberton Square, Boston,
Mass."
Across the face of each draft was the following: "May 19–84. Accepted, E. R. Hall, Asst. Treas."
The drafts bore the following indorsements successively: "Pay to the order of C. R. Stuckslager, Cashier. A. Chaudon."
"Pay Penn Bank, or order, for account of People's Bank, McKeesport, Pa. C. R. Stuckslager, Cashier. T. D. Gardner, As. Cash."
"Pay Freeman's National Bank, Boston, or order, for account of Penn Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa. C. L. Reiber, Cashier."
When the drafts sued upon were drawn, Edward C. Converse was the assistant general manager of the defendant at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and A. Chaudon was a clerk in its employ. The drafts were drawn without any consideration and were deposited in the People's Bank of McKeesport, of which C. R. Stuckslager was cashier, in which bank the defendant had an account by its officers on its bebalf. The drafts were at once sent by the People's Bank to its correspondent, the Penn Bank of Pittsburgh, indorsed as shown above, accompanied by a letter stating "We indorse for collection and credit." The People's Bank did not pay the drafts, nor make any advances or give any credit thereon, or make any entry of them in its books, though it acknowledged their receipt in a letter of which it kept a pressed copy, saying that euch draîts were entered for collection, " to be used when paid." The drafts were not charged to the Penn Bank by the People's Bank, nor did the latter draw anything on account thereof. They were, however, entered on the books of the Penn Bank to the credit of the People's Bank, and to the debit of the plaintiff bank, in the mode in which it entered all cash items in its current account with those banks, but nothing was paid thereon. On the same day, May 17th, the Penn Bank sent the drafts to the plaintiff, which was its correspondent at Boston, accompanied by a letter stating that the drafts were inclosed for collection, and on the same day drew a check on the plaintiff bank to the order of the American Exchange Bank for seven thousand dollars and credited the amount to the plaintiff. The plaintiff received the drafts on May 19th, and they were accepted by the defendant on the same day. The day afterwards, the check of the Penn Bank for seven thousand dollars reached the plaintiff and was paid by it. At the close of business on May 19th, there was upon the books of the plaintiff bank a balance to the credit of the Penn Bank of $1,238.95, while at the close of business on May 20th, the balance to the debit of the Penn Bank was $6,063.76. The plaintiff entered the drafts upon its collection-book, but not upon its account current, nor upon any other book or aocount, to the credit of the Penn Bank. The latter, on the 21st or 22d of May, failed, and the defendant's treasurer was notified by the People's Bank and by the manager of the defendant not to pay the drafts. Payment was thereupon refused. The object of drawing the drafts was to procure funds from Boston to pay the expenses of the defendant at its mills at McKeesport, and every month drafts were drawn in similar form and for similar purpose, generally exceeding one hundred thou. sand dollars, and were indorsed in precisely the same way and passed through the same banks. Neither of the drafts was collected by the plaintiff, but it brought action thereon against the defendant, by which they had been accepted.
W. G. Russell and J. Fox, for the plaintiff.
E. W. Hutchins and H. Wheeler, for the defendant.
KNOWLTON, J. The indorsement from the defendant to the People's Bank, although in terms unrestricted, was without consideration, and werely for the purpose of collection. The People's Bank became the agent of the defendant, and the defendant, as owner of the drafts, can avail itself of all that its agent did for its protection.
The subsequent indorsements through which the drafts came to the plaintiff were both restrictive, giving notice that the ownership had not passed beyond the People's Bank. They purported to be made only for the purpose of collection on account of the owner, and they merely passed the legal title so far as to enable the indorsees to demand, receive, and sue for the money to be paid: Lynn National Bank v. Smith, 132
Mass. 227. It is well settled that upon such an indorsement • the owner may control his negotiable paper until it is paid,
and may intercept the proceeds of it in the hands of an intermediate agent: Manufacturers' National Bank v. Continental Bank, 148 Mass. 553; 12 Am. St. Rep. 598, and cases there cited. The indorsement of the Penn Bank, taken in connection with the former indorsement of the People's Bank, did not, by the words "for account of Penn Bank," imply that the Penn Bank was the owner. It was a request to pay
" for account of" the Penn Bank as agent of the People's Bank. An unbroken succession of such indorsements would indicate that each indorser was acting by direction of the next preceding indorser, who was himself an agent of the owner, who had before indorsed, and for whom the collection was to be made.
Nothing was shown in the course of business of either of the banks necessarily to conflict with the implication to be derived from the form of the indorsements. The letter of the People's Bank in which the drafts were sent to the Penn Bank was, simply, "We inclose for collection and credit" the drafts, describing them. The Penn Bank, in its reply, said, "We enter for collection" the drafts described, "to be used when paid." As recited in the report, "the drafts, when received by the Freeman's Bank, were entered upon its collection-book, but have never been entered upon its account current, or upon any other book or account, to the credit of the Penn Bank." It has 80 long been held by the courts that an indorsement of this kind is restrictive, protecting the rights of the owner, that officers of banks must be presumed to have well understood the law, and when they have honored overdrafts drawn by other banks which had sent other drafts for collection, must have done it trusting in part to the financial soundness of their correspondent, and in part to the probability that the drafts would be paid, and not to a supposed legal right to control the drafts against the owner: Rice v. Stearns, 3 Mass. 225, 227; 3 Am. Dec. 129; Wilson v. Holmes, 5 Mass. 543; 4 Am. Dec. 75; Treuttel v. Barandon, 8 Taunt. 100; Sigourney v. Lloyd, 8 Barn, . & C. 622; Leary v. Blanchard, 48 Me. 269; Sweeny v. Easter, 1 Wall. 166; Bank of Washington v. Triplett, 1 Pet. 25; Lawrence v. Stonington Bank, 6 Conn. 521; Bank of Metropolis v. New England Bank, 1 How. 234; 6 How. 212.
One who collects commercial paper through the agency of banks must be held impliedly to contract that the business may be done according to their well-known usages, so far as to permit the money collected to be mingled with funds of the collecting bank: Dorchester and Milton Bank v. New England Bank, 1 Cush. 177. When a payment is made to his agent and the money is put with the money of the collecting bank, he has a right to receive a corresponding sum, but he loses his right to the specific fund. In the absence of directions to the contrary, the collecting bank may pay it to the bank to which it should regularly be remitted by setting it off against a debt due from that bank and giving credit for it in the account.
Very likely, authority to collect would authorize the receipt of the money from the payor before maturity, if he saw fit then to pay, and remittances afterwards made, whether by a parment of money or by a set-off and adjustment of accounts in
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SFGate: Fine-tuning Beer Just for the Restaurant Table
From SFGate:
By the time the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill approached the owners of Almanac Beer Co., the San Francisco brewery was already known for a proliferation of "farm to table" beers that used local produce. This spring's Biere de Mars harnessed the flavors of fennel.
But the Fairmont's rooftop, complete with apiary, might count as the tiniest farm ever. When its beverage staff wanted a partner to make a beer from its bees' honey, Almanac was the logical choice.
"After touring the stately hotel, their gardens and restaurant, we tried to incorporate all of that inspiration into the beer," says Almanac's Jesse Friedman.
Why would breweries - typically jammed with in-house projects to bring thirsty patrons to their door - take on a partner? For the same reason that restaurants would reach out to a brewer: to reach a bigger, different audience. That has been occurring with increasing frequency on the West Coast as chefs seek beverages tailored to their food.
Maybe Public House, with its dedicated entrance to AT&T Park and sports-bar setting, isn't the most unusual venue to commission its own beer. But Billy Sunday's Best Bitter, created by Magnolia Pub head brewer Dave McClean, is hardly a usual beer. For one, the food, under chefs Traci Des Jardins and Chris Wade, exceeds standard ballpark fare.
More crucially, Public House has a meticulously maintained cask program. Cask ales require more exacting storage and serving because fresh beer goes straight into a cask - no treatment, filtering or flash-pasteurizing.
Billy Sunday's is a classic English bitter; whether it's the cask or low carbonation, the ale is dominated by the aroma of apple blossoms, with a soft cider taste. It's as proper a foil for Public House's crispy cauliflower with pine nuts, capers and peppers as it is for the chorizo and jalapeno fritters.
"It's unique to us and presumably most U.S. breweries, because it's the one beer we make that's only available cask-conditioned," McClean says.
More recently, McClean - who also has Magnolia's own restaurant in the Haight to service - teamed up on a beer for Namu Gaji, the recently opened Korean-inspired project in the Mission District that's a successor to Dennis Lee's original Richmond District restaurant.
For the rest of the article, visit www.sfgate.com.
News Beer sales


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U.S. aviation industry still has difficulty in changing its declining performance
in Business, Politics
E' enorme l'afflusso dei bolzanini per lo screening di massa, iniziato alle ore 8, 20 novembre 2020. In molte parti della città davanti ai presidi, in quasi tutti i casi i tradizionali seggi elettorali, si sono formate lunghe code. Fino a domenica gli altoatesini sono invitati a sottoporsi a titolo volontario e gratuito al tampone rapido. A Bolzano, secondo le vie e il numero civico, sono state assegnate delle 'finestre temporali', per partecipare. ANSA/ G.NEWS
The recent financial report released by the U.S. aviation industry shows that due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the industry is still shrinking, and the decline in performance is temporarily difficult to reverse.
Southwest Airlines said on the 26th that due to the epidemic, the company has overstaffed the tourism industry and is currently providing a new round of voluntary leave plans to employees.
Southwest Airlines said in an email, Reuters: "The company has overstaffed in many areas, so according to the company's estimated level of manpower, some departments will provide additional opportunities for employees to extend their leave from March."
"Some of the staff previously participated in the six-month voluntary leave program and are expected to return to work on March 1, which coincides with the previous round of leave plans," the company added.
Bloomberg reported earlier that 791 pilots of Southwest Airlines have agreed to take leave for one to three months.
Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines have all called on the government to provide additional relief measures.
The U.S. Treasury Department began to distribute payroll grants to the airline industry this month, with $15 billion allocated by Congress, benefiting more than 32,000 aviation employees, who will return to work as soon as March 31.
The latest performance shows that the operating conditions of airlines are worrying. United Airlines lost $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 and more than $7 billion for the whole year, the worst performance of the company after its merger with Continental Airlines in 2010.
The company expects revenue to decline by 65%-70% in the first quarter, which is still under great pressure although it improves from previous quarters. The company hopes for the smooth distribution of vaccines for the future market performance development.
At the same time, Delta's latest performance outlook also shows that the distribution of vaccines is too slow to have a big impact on the predetermined volume for the first quarter.
As the borders of Europe and the United States continue to close, or even tighten control, the recovery that has just begun may occur repeatedly.
Boeing released its fourth quarter financial report for the 27th quarter of 2020.
Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $15.3 billion, lower than the $17.91 billion in the same period in 2019 and lower than market expectations.
The loss in the fiscal quarter was $1.525 billion, compared with a loss of $1.01 billion in the same period the previous year.
The pre-tax expenditure of Boeing's 777X project is $6.5 billion.
It is expected that the 777X will be delivered for the first time by the end of 2023.
Boeing said that its performance was significantly affected by the epidemic, the grounding of 737 MAX and commercial wide-body airliner projects.
However, Boeing has delivered more than 40 737 MAX aircraft since the Federal Aviation Administration approved the resumption of operations.
Bulgarian Vice President tested positive for COVID-19
Cases of COVID-19 Variant infection found in North Macedonia


At a time when some commentators are questioning the future direction of our property markets respected economist Rod Cornish, of Macqaurie Bank states that the bank's forecasting models points to further price growth ahead.
Australian housing is well into an upswing although at this stage, price growth is not uniform across capital cities and regional areas. The pattern of recovery widened in the second half of last year from Sydney and Perth initially to include Melbourne, with Brisbane lagging behind so far this cycle.
In 2014, price growth is expected to broaden further to include Brisbane, locations within two hours' drive from major capital city markets and the upper-end, although median price growth in the early-mover Sydney and Melbourne markets is unlikely to match the exceptional growth achieved last year.
Residential cycles from here will be shorter than the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Central bank monetary policy has shifted relatively swiftly in the last couple of cycles and now with structurally lower rates, smaller changes in rates will have a more sizeable influence on affordability and the timing of residential market turning points.
The drivers of this upswing are similar to those in previous cycles and reflect the lagged impact of progressively lower mortgage rates on housing affordability.
Medium-term drivers – in the form of high population growth from robust immigration and low rates – will help sustain the upswing cycle and further price growth this year and into next. Increased supply will become more apparent over the next couple of years which will have the impact of moderating, though not completely offsetting, the extent of excess demand in the overall housing market.
With the major drivers being mortgage rates, relative affordability, migration, household incomes and policy changes, our house price models point to an ongoing trend for robust growth ahead across different capital cities, with modest price falls later in the cycle in line with those seen during previous cycles.
Aggressive or earlier-than-expected rate hikes would bring the moderation cycle forward. Conversely, a dovish, staggered rate tightening cycle would draw out the current house price inflation cycle.
Sydney is expected to continue to outperform this year given the earlier stage of the cycle relative to Melbourne, strong housing demand and previously low construction. Cyclically high auction clearance rates reinforce the strong near-term outlook. We expect price growth to approach 10% in 2014, then slow to single digit growth in 2015 with moderate falls expected 2016 as rates increase. Upper-end demand should lift this year assuming sustained solid growth in share market prices.
Melbourne price growth was above expectations last year due to the rate cuts; the rate of growth in 2014 is expected to moderate to single digit levels in 2014 and 2015, held up by overseas migration and foreign investor demand. A rush of CBD apartment supply will dampen investment returns in that market sector.
Brisbane has been one of the laggards so far this cycle, though forward indictors are recovering. Interstate migration is a major driver and with the affordability gap with Sydney having widened, the population shift from southern states should start to improve – along with housing demand and price growth.
Perth prices improved early although slowing mining investment will have a progressively smaller impact on demand and price growth from here. WA inward migration is starting to slow from record highs, a trend that might soften further. With affordability still reasonable relative to recent history, mid-single-digit house price growth is expected this year.